


PokeMate

by Siren_Of_Old



Series: YouTube Soulmates [2]
Category: Game Grumps, Youtube RPF
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 10:55:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8369578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siren_Of_Old/pseuds/Siren_Of_Old
Summary: I don't really have a summary b/c I'm shite at them. It's just a rubberdoop soulmate au. *shrugs*





	1. Barry's Bane

When Barry Kramer turned sixteen, three words in messy chicken scrawl appeared on the sensitive skin of his inner wrist.

“God, you’re huge.”

Every time he saw them, he’d blush and tug his hoodie cuff back down to hide the words from his view.

Now, it wasn’t that he didn’t like the words. There were other people with seriously worse words on their skin. His best friend Dan’s soulmate’s first words to him consisted of mostly cuss words. Another friend of his, Mark had a very sexual statement written across his collarbones. So, his soulmark wasn’t the worse thing he could ever have, not by a long shot.

It was just the unknown. Dan constantly told him that his soulmate was probably some freaky size queen, and Mark constantly told him to try not to scare anyone he thinks could be his soulmate. He wasn’t even sure what type of situation to expect when the words had first scrawled their way across his skin like liquid heat after midnight on his birthday. He’d just laid in bed, staring at the words in disbelief as the light from his cell phone illuminated the space around him.

The day of his birthday, his mom had bought him a soulmark cuff to hide the words when he went to school, but his friends had all remembered the day and hounded him all day long. By the end of it, Dan and Mark had been howling with laughter.

So, yes, while he didn’t have the worst soulmark on the planet, he wasn’t very fond of the implications that could be tied to it.

 

* * *

 

 

The first time he hears the words, he’s twenty and in the women’s underwear department with Holly while she picks out lingerie for some con she’s going to with her soulmate Suzy.

“Why would you get lingerie for a _con_?” Barry found himself asking her as she tried on her third bra and panty set. He leaned against the door to her dressing room, fiddling around on his phone.

“Because,” She said, sounding like she was struggling with a hook or something. Barry laughed softly. “Con means hotel rooms, and hotel rooms mean kinky sex. Good Lord, Barold, have you never been kinky in a hotel room?”

He laughed out loud then. “Not all of us are man whores like Dan. I’d like to wait for my soulmate, Hols.”

“True,” She mumbled through the door. He went back to scrolling through Twitter on his phone.

“God, you’re _huge_.”

His head jerked up and he stared at the person in front of him. It was a slim man with an undercut and braces. Barry squinted his eyes in confusion and stared at the man. “Excuse me?”

The guy clapped a hand over his mouth before reaching a hand up to muss his hair. “I apologize, you’re just so broad. I’m almost envious.”

Barry felt himself blush. “I’m sorry, I… are you my soulmate?”

The guy startled, staring at Barry for a second before his face dropped into one of pity. “Oh, hun. I’m sorry to disappoint but no. I- uh I already found my soulmate.”

Embarrassment rushed through Barry and he felt like his face was on fire. He let out a weird tiny sound and the guy looked concerned. He started babbling on about how sorry he was and that if he weren’t with his girlfriend, he’d consider him for a side relationship and all Barry wanted was for the floor to open up and swallow him whole. He felt Holly push on the door he was leaning against and he jumped forward to let her out.

“Sorry,” She smiled at the guy sweetly. “But could you go away now?”

The man nodded and rushed away and Holly gripped Barry’s wrist tightly, pulling him into a tight hug. He let her pull her down to his level, pressing his face right into her shoulder.

Then he found himself crying.

 

* * *

 

 

“Eight birthdays,” Barry grumbled as he got his vending spot set up at the local con. “And still no size queen.”

Dan snickered next to him as he passed him a few Ditto keychains that Holly had hand-stitched for him. He’d practically attacked her with hugs after she presented them to him.

“Ditto doesn’t have enough merch,” She’d grinned as he’d showered her face with cute kisses before Suzy had dragged him off of her, glaring playfully. To say he was grateful would be the understatement of the century.

“So you’re hoping for a size queen, eh?” Dan teased, winking at his flustered friend. Mark let out a groan at the grossness of his friends, his head dropping back to rest on the back of the chair he was sitting in.

“You guys are disgusting.” He said, rubbing a hand over his collarbone. “We can’t be friends anymore.”

Dan threw a plush Pikachu at his face, causing him to splutter in surprise. “Like you could escape the nasty that way. You’d still have Jack to deal with.”

Barry laughed, tacking a few bookmarks up on a corkboard. “That’s right Mark. You can’t escape your soulmate and his grossness.”

“I resent that!” A bright Irish voice called from across the artist alley. Barry glanced at their green-haired friend, his arms crossed over his chest with a scowl on his face. “I’m not that nasty!”

Mark groaned, “Oh yeah, because ‘by God, the things I wanna do to that ass’ is the purest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, it’s better than anything else I coulda said,” Jack argued, sticking his tongue out at his boyfriend. “I coulda told you how much I wanted your dick down my thr- “

Mark let out a garbled noise, cutting Jack off as Dan and Barry clung to the vendor table while they laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Jack’s friend Felix asked as he walked up, his girlfriend Marzia and another boy behind him. Jack leaned back against his vendor table, smirking at Mark. Barry swiped some tears away from his eyes as he looked at Felix before dissolving into laughter again. Mark flushed a bright red and huffed.

“Just Mark being his normal pure self,” Dan quipped as he plopped down in his seat, waving at Marzia. “Oh, hey, is this you guys’ friend?”

Jack glanced over to the guy that had walked up with Felix and Marzia. “Oh yeah. Guys, this is Ross. Ross, these are Mark's friends, Barry and Dan.”

Ross waved warily, his eyes glued to the Ditto keychains that Barry had hung up prior to everything. Barry grinned at him, knowing that look.

“Do you like Pokémon?” He asked, smiling widely. He watched as Ross’s gaze flicked to him, his eyes growing wide. Jack and Felix each let out a tiny noise while Marzia let out a tiny squeal. Barry felt his brow furrow in confusion. What-?

“God, you’re huge.” Ross breathed, his face pinking as he realized what he’d just said. Dan let out a shout, clambering up to point at Ross. Mark started laughing.

“Are you a size queen?” Barry blurted out, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. Dan gripped Barry’s arm and started to wheeze with how hard he was laughing. Mark had gone silent but Barry could still see him shaking with laughter out of the corner of his eye.

“Um,” Ross rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, biting his bottom lip. “I don’t really understand..?”

Barry took a step forward, Dan dropping off of his shoulder to wheeze on the floor, clutching his stomach. Jack let out a chuckle and feigned to kick Dan, who let out a cuss. Barry glanced back at them before walking over to Ross. He held his wrist out to Ross, who stared in surprise and  traced a hesitant hand over the words. He watched as Ross’s face turned into one of guilt and a bit of annoyance.

“Probably no better than thinking I was a nerd this entire time,” Barry joked lightly to make him feel better, smiling softly. Ross let out a tiny laugh.

“You are a nerd. Look at all of this Pokémon shit.” Ross smirked, taking Barry’s hand in his. “I’m Ross. Ross O’Donovan.”

Barry was sure he’d never blushed so much in his life as he shook his hand tightly. “Barry Kramer. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 


	2. Ross's Anger

When Ross O’Donovan turned sixteen, four words curved across his ribs in neat quick handwriting.

“Do you like Pokémon?”

His first thought as he stood in his bathroom, shirt off, skin red and seemingly irritated around the words was, _how much of a fucking nerd will this person be_?

Okay, so he was a nerd for Pokémon too, but that wasn’t the first thing he would say to someone he just met. I mean, come on. Who asks that right off the bat?

His friend Jack constantly harps on him for being so narrow minded. “You two coulda met somewhere where being a nerd is actually a starter topic, ya dipshit.” Whatever. He couldn’t really deny the fact, but he wasn’t going to take soulmate tips from a man with the words _please find Jesus_ as his soulmark.

The thought of having a fellow Pokémon fan as a soulmate was actually a very nice idea. It’d be common ground for the two of them and Ross wouldn’t be embarrassed to play his Pokémon DS games around them. But, at the same time, he wasn’t looking for a fanatic to out-nerd him and possibly ruin something he cherished in his gaming life.

So, sure, he was looking forward to meeting his soulmate. He was also looking forward to punching them if they were a fanatic prick.

 

* * *

 

 

The first time someone had asked him if he liked Pokémon had been when he was twenty two, after he'd moved to the United States with Jack. He’d gone to a convention with Jack and his friend Felix and had sat down at the Pokémon playing stations to challenge a few newbs.

“Do you like Pokémon?” A small, soft voice said and he looked over to find a slight, short girl with pink hair and a large smile. His eyes widened and he nodded. She plopped down in the seat across from his and pulled out her own deck of cards.

“You want to challenge me?” He asked, watching her to gauge her reaction to his words. But, instead of squeals or any reaction at all, the pink haired girl nodded, flipping through her cards.

“Name’s Holly.” She supplied, holding her hand out. He took it and shook it, his eyes catching on cursive words wrapping around her bicep. Your soulmate’s soulmark was said to be written in your own handwriting and that was definitely not his handwriting.

“Ross. Let’s do this, Hols.”

Holly won that round and took his Ditto card, teasing that it would be the best present for her best friend. He smiled sadly as she handed him a piece of paper with her skype and phone number, demanding that they keep in touch and become friends. He promised her that he would and watched as she walked away with a curvy girl with black hair with a streak of blonde through it.

He cried in the bathroom after that.

 

* * *

 

 

Ross tended to avoid conventions after that, only going when Jack needed help setting up or help with a panel. He didn’t want another incident like the one with Holly. Although she had turned out to be an awesome friend, he really didn’t want to have to deal with heartbreak more than once.

When Jack asked him to help Felix and him set up their vendor booth at the next con, he accepted only because Jack told him that he had a friend there who was selling Ditto keychains. It was so hard to get good Ditto merch and even though Holly was working on something for him, he was greedy. So he let them pack him into their car with Marzia and the four of them drove to con, music blaring and Jack occasionally sending cute videos to his soulmate Mark from the passenger seat.

“I’ll go grab our table,” Jack said when they arrived, practically hopping out of the car as soon as Felix stopped it in their parking space. Ross shook his head, watching their green haired friend narrowly escape running into a group of Homestuck characters. That man was something else when it came to his soulmate.

“Shall we follow him and then drag him back to get the stuff?” Felix asked, laughing as he helped Marzia out of the backseat.

“Might as well get some good blackmail shit,” Ross chuckled, kicking the door shut after he got out. He followed his two friends into the center, watching wistfully as they held hands and giggled together, Marzia’s soulmark standing out on the nape of her neck from under her ponytail.

For all of his rudeness, Ross was kind of sick of waiting for his soulmate. He missed being okay and not having to worry about someone not being his, or missing them by a fraction of a second and losing them forever. He wished he could just be fifteen again, even with all the awkwardness.

They found Jack standing against their table, three people at the table across from him. The table was surrounded with Pokémon merchandise and Ross could see the Ditto keychains that Jack had mentioned to him. Two of the guys were laughing, clutching the table for support, while the third- who could only be Mark, with that bright red in his hair- groaned woefully.

“What’s so funny?” Felix asked as they approached the group. Ross quickly averted his eyes to the table instead of the other guys. He really didn’t want to meet new people with how he was feeling. He saw Mark turn bright red as more laughter rang out and he huffed.

“Just Mark being his normal pure self,” A voice said, laughter still evident in his tone. “Oh, hey, is this you guys’ friend?”

Ross glanced up to see everyone looking at him, and quickly glanced away again. Jack smiled. “Oh yeah. Guys, this is Ross. Ross, these are Mark's friends, Barry and Dan.”

Ross waved warily, keeping his eyes glued to the Ditto keychains. Maybe if he just stared at them, one would appear in his hand and he could go back to the car with his payment.

“Do you like Pokemon?” A voice asked. Ross’s gaze flickered over to one of Mark’s friends. His eyes widened as he took in how broad the guy was and how he looked like he could quite possibly give the best bear hugs known to man. He heard Jack and Felix make a noise of discomfort and wariness, while Marzia let out a tiny squeal. The guy’s brow furrowed as he stared at him.

“God, you’re huge.” Ross breathed out, his face heating up a second later as he realized just what he had said to this otherwise stranger. The skinnier one in their group clambered out of his seat, letting out a shout as he pointed at Ross. Mark laughed as Ross internally wished for his death.

“Are you a size queen?” The guy blurted out, his face flushing red. His friend gripped his arm as he started to wheeze with how hard he was laughing. Jack had to clap a hand over his mouth to keep from guffawing at his two friends.

“Um,” Ross rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, biting his bottom lip. “I don’t really understand…?”

The guy took a step forward, his friend dropping off of his shoulder to wheeze on the floor. Ross zoned everything else out as the guy walked forward to him, holding his wrist out to him. Ross glanced down, only to stare in surprise, raising a hand to trace over the words he’d said only a few moments before. Oh, good Lord, that’s a terrible soulmark to live with.

“Probably no better than thinking I was a nerd this entire time,” He joked, smiling at Ross softly. Ross found himself letting out a tiny laugh.

“You are a nerd. Look at all of this Pokémon shit.” Ross smirked in response, taking the guy’s hand in his “I’m Ross. Ross O’Donovan.”

The guy shook his hand tightly, smiling and blushing. “Barry Kramer. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and Kudos as you please!
> 
> Here's my horrible Tumblr ---> http://all-aboard-the-scream-train.tumblr.com/  
> Come scream with me. XD


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